In Java, what is a shallow copy?

A shallow copy just copies the values of the references in the class. A deep copy copies the values. given:

class Foo {
  private Bar myBar;
  ...
  public Foo shallowCopy() {
    Foo newFoo = new Foo();
    newFoo.myBar = myBar;
    return newFoo;
  }

  public Foo deepCopy() {
    Foo newFoo = new Foo();
    newFoo.myBar = myBar.clone(); //or new Bar(myBar) or myBar.deepCopy or ...
    return newFoo;
  }
}

Foo myFoo = new Foo();  
Foo sFoo = myFoo.shallowCopy();  
Foo dFoo = myFoo.deepCopy();  

myFoo.myBar == sFoo.myBar => true  
myFoo.myBar.equals(sFoo.myBar) => true  
myFoo.myBar == dFoo.myBar => **false**  
myFoo.myBar.equals(dFoo.myBar) => true  

In this case the shallow copy has the same reference (==) and the deep copy only has an equivalent reference (.equals()).

If a change is made to the value of a shallowly copied reference, then the copy reflects that change because it shares the same reference. If a change is made to the value of a deeply copied reference, then the copy does not reflect that change because it does not share the same reference.

C-ism

int a = 10; //init
int& b = a; //shallow - copies REFERENCE
int c = a;  //deep - copies VALUE
++a;

Result:

a is 11  
*b is 11  
c is 10